1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel, and a liquid crystal display panel manufactured thereby.
2. Description of the Related Art
Liquid crystal displays use electrical and optical properties of a liquid crystal material injected inside a panel to display images. Liquid crystal displays are widely applied to various fields such as a computer monitors or mobile communication terminals. Liquid crystal displays have advantages of small size, light weight, and low power consumption.
The manufacturing of liquid crystal displays requires numerous processes. The manufacturing requires a variety of equipment to perform each process and operators to operate the equipment. As a result, manufacturing of liquid crystal displays requires an enormous cost and sufficient space for operating the equipment.
Accordingly, increasing process efficiency and reduction of space requirements for manufacturing liquid crystal displays are important to increasing yield and reducing cost.
A related art method for etching thin film transistor substrates includes a single line having process chambers for coating and exposing substrates one by one. Another related art method includes a dual line having process chambers for coating and exposing substrates two by two. The single line related art method takes about 80 seconds to process each substrate. The dual line related art method takes about 45 seconds to process each substrate. The dual line performs more efficiently and requires less space for equipment compared with the single line, thus increasing the yield and reducing cost.
A system and method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel in the related art will be described below.
FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating the system for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel in the related art. FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a method for operating the system for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel shown in FIG. 1A.
Referring to FIG. 1A, the related art system for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel includes a dual line. The dual line includes a process line for inputting substrates to be processed separate from a process line for outputting processed substrates.
The system for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel in the related art includes a loader 110, a cleaner 120, coaters 130-1 and 130-2, a transfer line 140, exposure units 150-1 and 150-2, a developer 160, a tester 170, and an unloader 180.
Operation of the above constructed system for manufacturing the liquid crystal display panel will be described below.
When substrates are supplied in a cassette through the loader 110 having two ports, each of the substrates is automatically processed in the cleaner 120, the coaters 130-1 and 130-2, the exposure units 150-1 and 150-2, the developer 160, and the tester 170. The processed-substrates are then outputted to a cassette and unloaded by the unloader 180.
A system and method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel in the related art, is shown in (A) of FIG. 1B. After the loader 110 loads a cassette filled with substrates to be processed, the substrates are inputted to a rear process chamber. After all the substrates are inputted, the empty cassette is unloaded and replaced with another filled cassette.
Similarly, as shown in (B) of FIG. 1B, at the unloader 180 the processed-substrates are outputted to a blank cassette. Once the blank cassette is filled with substrates, the filled cassette is unloaded and replaced with another blank cassette.
However, the system for manufacturing the liquid crystal display panel in the related art has a disadvantage in that two coaters 130-1 and 130-2 or two exposure units 150-1 and 150-2 perform the same process.
In the case where a processed-substrate has a defect, determining which of the two coaters 130-1 and 130-2 or two exposure units 150-1 and 150-2 processed the defective substrate is not accurate because the processes are not executed on a per-substrate or per-cassette basis. Thus, there is a disadvantage in that a cause of the defect cannot be accurately analyzed.
In addition, there is a drawback that it is difficult to determine a history of the manufacturing process.
FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of another system for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel in the related art. FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating a method for operating the system for manufacturing the liquid crystal display panel shown in FIG. 2A.
The system for manufacturing the liquid crystal display panel of FIG. 2A is a dual line system in which processes of inputting and outputting substrates are integrated, unlike the system in which the processes of inputting and outputting the substrates are separated.
Referring to FIG. 2A, the system for manufacturing the liquid crystal display panel includes a first loader 210 and a second loader 215 each including three ports, a cleaner 220, a first coater 230, a second coater 235, a first exposure unit 250, a second exposure unit 255, a developer 260, a tester 270, and transfer lines 280 and 285.
In other words, the system for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel includes the first loader 210 and the second loader 215 of FIG. 2B at which both inputting and outputting of substrates occurs, and a production from two kinds of cassettes through the two loaders 210 and 215 is possible. Each of the loaders 210 and 215 needs at least three ports to perform the inputting and outputting of substrates and replacement of cassettes.
In the system for manufacturing the liquid crystal display panel of FIG. 2A, the substrates inputted through a loader are processed either through the first coater 230 or the second coater 235 and the first exposure unit 250 or the second exposure unit 255.
Accordingly, the coaters 230 and 235 and the exposure units 250 and 255 can perform processes different from each other, respectively. Thus, there is an advantage that the processes can be more effectively performed and a cause of a defective substrate can be analyzed because it is easy to determine the process history of each substrate.
However, as shown in FIG. 2B, the system for manufacturing the liquid crystal display panel requires a port for inputting substrates, a port for outputting substrates as well as a replacement port. Therefore, each of the loaders 210 and 215 should include at least three ports.
Also, the transfer lines 280 and 285 that connect the respective ports with process chambers are required. This excessively increases the installation area required for equipment, and reduces efficiency of space.